Geoege ceouch



(No Model) G. CROUCH.

TRUNK.

Patented Aug. 11, 1885.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

GEORGE oEoUoH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

TRUNK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 324,091, dated August 11, 1885.

Application filed February 16, 1885. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE CROUCH, of the city and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Band-Iron for Trunks, Boxes, 850., of which the following is a specification.

In the construction of trunks it is usual to employ iron straps or hands passing around the trunk to strengthen the same, and tie the parts together. These bands are usually ap plied upon the top, front, and back, near the ends of the trunk, and there are generally two or more intermediate straps or hands running in the same direction and these are secured by nails passing into the wood and clinched, These straps or bands are usually of comparatively thin iron, and the shrinkage of the wood causes these bands to become loose and bulge up between the nails by which they are secured.

My improvement is made for strengthening the trunk and preventing the band-iron becoming loose or injured upon the trunk.

My invention consists in a trunk having sheet-metal valance and strengthening bands encircling the body and cover, all of said bands being corrugated longitudinally. These corrugations stiffen and hold the bands in their proper position upon the trunk, and prevent them becoming loose or bulged up, and hence the said bands are not liable to be caught or injured in handling the trunk.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a trunk with the aforesaid band-iron applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a section in larger size of said bandiron, and Fig. 3 is a section showing the real size of said band-iron.

a a represent the iron bands near the ends of the trunk; b b, the intermediate iron bands, and c the skirt or valance band.

Each of the aforesaid bands is of comparatively thin sheet metal, and there are longitudinal corrugations, as at M, in each hand. These corrugations stiffen and strengthen the iron bands, so that they maintain their proper shape and position, and are not as liable to injury in use as the flat bands heretofore employed.

I do not claim hoops of iron for barrels in which the iron is corrugated; neither do I claim a strip of corrugated raw-hide upon a trunk.

I claim as my invention A trunk constructed substantially as herein described, and provided with the sheet-metal valance and strengthening bands which encircle the body and cover, all of said metallic parts being corrugated longitudinally, as set forth.

Signed by me this 9th day of February, A. D. 1885.

GEO. CROUCH.

Witnesses:

GEO. T. PINCKNEY, W. G. Morr. 

